UPDATE: I added the results from the vet visit in the comments section of this post.

I posted in the forums about this but realized I hadn’t updated the blog about it.

Today is vet day … We were originally scheduled for chemo but I emailed the vet about holding off, and instead checking out what seems to be wrong, and to get chest x-rays done.

Here are the notes I’m taking with me to the vet.

Roxy bounced back from her last chemo and had lots of energy for a couple of days after.

After a few days her eating slowed down, and she started panting a lot (and has very bad breath). Her breathing also seems to be a bit laboured and rapid. At night, she has been restless, and occasionally will let out a little whimper which leads me to believe something is causing her pain. She also whimpers occasionally when she is at rest. She has also been licking her front paws which seems to be something she does when she is in pain.

Roxy missed her dose of Deramaxx on Monday and Tuesday nights (couldn’t get her to eat enough to take it) and slept through the night with minimal restlessness and panting. Looks like it might be part of the problem? Should we switch back to Metacam?

She has been refusing to eat still (more). It is hard to get her to eat enough to get her meds in her, so she has only been getting 1 dose of her antibiotic every day, if that.

Is there a different appetite stimulant? Megestrol was mentioned by another owner of a dog with cancer on the Tripawds site.

Is there another pain med other than (or in addition to) Tramadol that we can try?

Is there a doggie equivalent to Ensure (liquid diet) to help her get her nutrients? I gave her a little bit a couple of times and she lapped it up. She also had no problems with ice cubes, and I even made food into ice cubes and she was able to eat some like that. But she has no interest in dog food and runs away when we offer it to her (even canned chicken, canned salmon and roasted chicken from the grocery store)

I am hoping this this is just a bump in the road but part of me is bracing for the worst.

In other news, I think we found a really good match in a rescue dog we met this week. Last week we met Harley, an adorable 7 month old lab/shepherd/rottweiler mix … but when the two met, he was in her face a lot (he’s still very much a puppy) and she kept getting annoyed. This is something that she would get used to; we’d just have to work with them both. But the problem is, if Roxy doesn’t have a lot of time left, I don’t want it to be spent annoyed. We love Harley but just think that he would be too much for Roxy right now.

The other dog we met, Zeus, is a lovely, gentle and calm 1.5 year old Mountain Cur mix. When the two met, they were interested in each other, tails wagging, and they just kind of did their own thing after that. Didn’t stress Roxy out at all. Which is EXACTLY what Roxy needs right now. I think they would make good pals. And I think he would make a great addition to our family. Everyone loved him. He was saved from a kill shelter where he was labelled as aggressive – which, to me, is shocking – but he has crate anxiety and he had inverted lower lids (which basically means he had lashes that were constantly stabbing his eyeballs). After Catahoula Rescue Ontario took him in, he did great. He had surgery on his eyes, and now it’s like he’s discovering everything for the first time. He likes to chase light and shadows. He’s such a happy boy.

This is Zeus. Isn’t he darling?

We have a home visit on Friday on our ‘turf’, which I think will go well. But we are also up against another family who is interested. Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us!

And for Sally, here’s a photo of Roxy from the other day 🙂

Roxy! Where’s your back leg? How is your bum just floating like that?!

Update from vet. Lungs are clear but Roxy’s mouth tumor has some necrosis (which explains the breath), which could mean a couple of things, that the chemo is working by starving the tumor, or that the tumor is growing at a rate that her blood supply can’t feed. We’re going to go ahead with a second chemo (she seemed to bounce back quickly last time) to be more sure.

What is new is that it is painful for Roxy to open her mouth. We’re going to be upping her Tramadol and adding a steroidal anti-inflammatory (Prednisone) which has been known to also promote weight gain and stimulate appetite.

They did bring up the option of putting her down. But I chose the other options, because I think she still has a chance to enjoy life a little longer. I know we are basically palliative at this point but I want to try to control her pain (we have been on minimal pain relief to this point). If it doesn’t help, we’ll make a decision. Either way, I don’t want her to live with pain.